Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

Full Disclosure is taking a short break for Christmas... We'll be back in January 2024!

29 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Full Disclosure is taking a short break over Christmas but don't worry, we'll be back in January 2024 with a line up of exceptional guests.If you can'...

Fatima Whitbread

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This episode contains discussion of sexual violence. Listener discretion is advised.Fatima Whitbread is a former javelin world champion, double Olympi...

Dominic Grieve

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Former Conservative MP Dominic Grieve never set out to be a rebel. In his words, he was a member of the establishment. He was president of the Oxford ...

Chris Packham

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Wildlife TV presenter and conservationist Chris Packham has always been fascinated by the natural world. As a child, he spent hours collecting slugs, ...

What To Listen To Next - The News Agents

03 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We're dropping into your feed to share another Global Player Original podcast with you. Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall – three of the UK...

Omid Scobie

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Royal biographer Omid Scobie was thrust into the spotlight when he began writing about Prince Harry and Meghan. His first book Finding Freedom, about ...

Emily Maitlis interviews James O'Brien on his book 'How They Broke Britain'

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week, the tables have turned and James is in the hot seat. He sits down with journalist and host of The News Agents podcast, Emily Maitlis to dis...

Miles Jupp

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He's a comedian, writer and star of stage and screen. Miles Jupp started performing stand-up as a student at Edinburgh University. In his third year, ...

Chris McCausland

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Liverpudlian comedian Chris McCausland gradually started losing his eyesight due to a hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa. His sight got ...

From The Vault: Dame Prue Leith

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

James has brought back another incredible guest from the Full Disclosure vault this week. He's revisiting his 2019 interview with Dame Prue Leith, sta...

From The Vault: Steve Coogan

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

James has been looking back at some of his all-time favourite guests on Full Disclosure. He's dug deep into the vault and plucked out an episode that ...

Tim Peake

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2008, Tim Peake answered an advert from the European Space Agency looking for astronauts. Six years later he became the first British astronaut to ...

Mary Beard

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Arguably the world’s most famous classicist, Mary Beard has an incredible talent for making ancient history engaging for everyone. Her fascination w...

Susie Dent

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lexicographer, etymologist and Queen of Countdown’s Dictionary Corner, Susie Dent has always been fascinated by words. As a child, she would read th...

Naomi Klein

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past twenty-five years, Naomi Klein has charted and documented our politics and culture with a series of bestselling-books from No Logo to Th...

Gabby Logan

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Broadcasting legend, podcaster and former gymnast for Wales and Great Britain, Gabby Logan is a force to be reckoned with. She started her broadcastin...

Clive Myrie

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He's one of the most recognisable faces on British television, covering some of the biggest stories of our time. BBC News presenter and Mastermind ho...

Sebastian Faulks

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Novelist Sebastian Faulks has the rare quality of being both literary and popular. He’s best known for his historical novels set in France, and in p...

Mark Gatiss

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Few of us realise the dreams we have as 8-year-olds, but actor, screenwriter and director Mark Gatiss, obsessed with horror, Dr Who and Sherlock Holme...

Dawn Butler

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dawn Butler was the first black woman to speak at the despatch box in the House of Commons. But as a young person it had not once occurred to her to g...

Polly Toynbee

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When Polly Toynbee arrived at The Observer in the late 1960s, she quickly concluded that she'd make a poor news reporter. Hailing from ...

Dale Vince

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Environmentalist Dale Vince was appalled to learn, as a child, that many adults don't enjoy going to work. Rejecting convention, he decided to hit the...

Best of Full Disclosure

04 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After a brief summer hiatus, James brings you some of the most extraordinary moments you might not have heard from Full Disclosure. We'll be back...

Shaparak Khorsandi

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Comedian and author Shaparak Khorsandi speaks to James about being diagnosed with ADHD in her forties, her Iranian background and ambitions to become ...

Alan Titchmarsh

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He's one of the nation's favourite broadcasters, but when Alan Titchmarsh was a young lad, his parents worried about him. Disliking secondary sch...

Rob Rinder

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Broadcaster, criminal barrister, columnist and now novelist, Rob Rinder is too curious a person to stay in one place for long. He speaks to James abou...

Wendell Pierce

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Wendell Pierce was on the verge of quitting acting after he graduated from Juilliard - but decided to "give it a year". Four decades on, he's one of t...

Dexter Fletcher

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After 50 years in TV, film and theatre, James O'Brien sits down with one of his heroes, actor turned big-time director, Dexter Fletcher to discuss the...

Joan Bakewell

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

She was made a peer in 2011, but Dame Joan Bakewell regards herself first and foremost as a journalist and writer. From a very young age, Jo...

Mark Steel

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A master at throwing interviewers off his own scent, comedian Mark Steel got so bored of being asked the same questions that he started making things ...

Alastair Campbell

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Self-confessed workaholic Alastair Campbell can't help but feel that he's not doing enough. He's written 18 books, is editor at large of The New Europ...

Evie Meg

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Evie Meg, AKA thistrippyhippie has over 16 million followers on TikTok, making her one of the most prominent online disability advocates. Conversely, ...

Introducing: Unprecedented

15 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Brexit, Covid, Partygate, lockdowns, leaks, the war in Ukraine, a cost-of-living crisis and the scandals that plagued our politics. Guto Harri wa...

Jack Whitehall

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

His first stand-up gig was at the tender age of 16. It was not critically well received. But Jack Whitehall quickly became a firm favourite on our scr...

Stephen Flynn

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At 34 years old he's the SNP's youngest ever leader in Westminster, moving at breakneck speed from supermarket checkout boy to Rishi Sunak's poli...

Liam Thomas

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For more than a decade, Liam Thomas worked as an undercover detective in the Metropolitan Police’s Covert Surveillance Unit, mixing with dangerous c...

Jason Arday

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On paper, a professorship at Cambridge is not an obvious outcome for a person who cannot read or write by the age of 18. It is also not what we might ...

Eddie Izzard

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Her career contains stand-up, marathon-running, acting and campaigning; all of which tend to reappear in no obvious or particular order. Now Eddie is ...

Hugh Laurie

05 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Brought up in a household where showing off was effectively banned, an acting career was perhaps the antithesis of what Hugh Laurie's parents expected...

Lucy Easthope

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Emergency Planner and Disaster Expert Lucy Easthope has advised on everything from plane crashes and tsunamis to pandemics and terror attacks. Lucy sp...

Mehdi Hasan

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As with The Beatles, Adele and James Corden, Mehdi Hasan is one of the rare British talents to crack America. But he's profoundly depressed by the sta...

Fred Sirieix

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He's the nation's most loved maitre d and the first face seen by singletons looking for love of Channel 4's First Dates. But behind the friendliness a...

Carol Vorderman

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

She's best known for starring in Countdown, one of Britain's longest-running television game shows. But Carol Vorderman has managed to fit twice as mu...

Phil Wang

02 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Comedian Phil Wang has decided he's got to start being silly in response to a world which he thinks is getting serious. Born in Stoke on Trent to an E...

Amanda Abbington

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Actress Amanda Abbington, star of Sherlock and Netflix thriller Safe, speaks to James about her misdirected early attempts at dancing, the moment she ...

Neil Kinnock

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He is credited with reestablishing the Labour Party as a mainstream, centrist political force after a period of hard-left internal conflict. Sound fam...

Terry Christian

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Broadcaster Terry Christian grew up in a large Irish Catholic family in Manchester where not attending mass or university was out of the question. Aft...

Sir Tony Robinson

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Blackadder legend Tony Robinson talks to James about the state of British politics, the power of meditation and the return of Time Team.

Matthew Collins

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Content warning: this episode contains descriptions of racial violence, racial slurs and suicidal feelings. By the time Matthew Collins was 15 years o...

George Takei

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The internment of Japanese Americans across the U.S. during World War II is not an obvious subject on which to develop a musical, however it is exactl...

Tracy Brabin

05 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Back in the day when she was best known as Tricia Armstrong in Coronation Street, Tracy Brabin did not shy away from national politics, appearing in L...

Alan Johnson

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

From union General Secretary, to Home Secretary to award-winning writer. By his own admission, Alan Johnson has lived a charmed life. He speaks to Jam...

Lisa Nandy

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A quick glance at Lisa Nandy's family tree shows that politics runs through her veins, but when she first arrived in the House of Commons it wasn't an...

Maria Ressa

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa's pursuit of the truth has landed her in trouble with the most powerful man in her motherland: President Duterte ...

Dr Gabor Maté

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Gabor Maté is one of the world's most revered physicians, specialising in addiciton, trauma, ADHD, stress and childhood development. As a young pe...

Brian Cox

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

He’s most famous for his role in HBO’s Succession, playing Logan Roy, the ruthless, capitalist, pater familias at the top of media conglomerate, W...

Derren Brown

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ever since he arrived on our screens in the early noughties, illusionist Derren Brown’s dramatic television stunts routinely generated controversy, ...

Martin Kemp

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How does a shy little boy go on to perform to arenas brimming with thousands of screaming fans? Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet fame speaks to James abo...

Introducing: Sweeney Talks

07 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Hey listener, we’ve got a new LBC podcast that we think you’d like called Sweeney Talks with old-school reporter, John Sweeney. John is trouble. H...

Adrian Chiles

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Adrian Chiles has graced our television screens for over two decades. On this episode of Full Disclosure he discusses the pressures of being in the pu...

Noel Fitzpatrick

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Noel Fitzpatrick is the face of Channel 4's hugely popular factual series, The Supervet. As well as a being a vet Noel has worked as an actor, appeari...

Sara Pascoe

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Since she was 14 years old Sara Pascoe knew she wanted to be famous. Her passion for performing was realised after being sent to drama classes as puni...

Amanda Owen aka The Yorkshire Shepherdess

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

At one of the highest and most remote locations in England sits Swaledale hill farm where Amanda Owen tends to her thousand sheep and nine children. D...

David Dimbleby

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Moments of high drama in Britain's recent history are punctuated by the voice of one man. For nearly half a century, broadcaster David Dimbleby has le...

Andy Burnham

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dubbed 'King of the North' at the height of the pandemic, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham speaks to James about why he sees the country ...

Ian McEwan

22 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When he graduated with a master's degree from the University of East Anglia, Ian McEwan did his level best not to have a job. He is now recognised as ...

Emily Maitlis

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Emily Maitlis started reporting from Hong Kong as a young journalist, by her own admission, she wasn't very good. Since then she has interviewed ...

John Cleese

25 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

John Cleese is one of Britain's most celebrated cultural icons. The actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer is best known for Monty Python and for ...

Michael Rosen

18 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Some of us manage to embody a youthful playfulness throughout our lives and the writer, broadcaster and academic, Michael Rosen is probably one of the...

Figen Murray

11 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For 23 years Figen Murray worked as a counsellor helping people to get back on track so that they could lead happier, healthier lives. But on the 22nd...

Professor Brian Cox

04 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In what would turn out to be the first of many media interviews, Brian Cox hopped off the plane from Geneva and found himself on Jeremy Paxman’s sof...

Mick Lynch

29 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Mick Lynch has been hitting the headlines from the picket throughout the summer and makes batting off stereotypical lines of questioning from the righ...

Miriam Margolyes

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Miriam has worked with some of the best in the business and in some great films such as the 1990s film Romeo and Juliet. Many of you of course will k...

Chris Bryant

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

He’s best known for his forensic select committee cross examination of cabinet ministers but the Labour MP for Rhondda lived multiple lives before r...

Chris Patten

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1997 Chris Patten walked away as the final British governor of Hong Kong in a symbol of Britain's continual imperial decline. Having taken the blam...

Wes Streeting

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When he was elected as the MP for Ilford North in 2015, Wes Streeting achieved the biggest swing towards Labour from the Conservatives in the general ...

Simon Callow

09 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Known best for playing Gareth in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Simon Callow is a critically acclaimed actor, writer and director. Raised by a host of e...

Robert Lindsay

26 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

He’s known mostly to his younger fans for playing Ben Harper in the decade-long running sitcom, My Family and to an older audience as the eponymous ...

The Secret Barrister

19 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

An unusual episode of Full Disclosure: one in which the identity of our guest is not revealed. No name, no gender, no details about where they grew up...

Ed Byrne

12 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Irish comedian Ed Byrne was born in County Dublin and attended a school run by the Christian Brothers Catholic order. It was so badly managed that he ...

Andy Hamilton

04 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Hoards of men would troop past Andy Hamilton's window every Saturday on the street he grew up on in Fulham. Minutes away from Stamford Bridge, and des...

James Wong

28 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For as long as he can remember, James Wong has been obsessed with botany. He shares his small central London flat with 500 houseplants and has incorpo...

Eddie Marsan

21 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Simple lies over complex truths have always troubled the actor, Eddie Marsan. Growing up in London’s East End, Marsan rejected the racists who blame...

Omid Djalili

07 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Central London in the 1970s, a household catering to sick Iranians housed Omid Djalili. Balancing school with his home life proved to be a challeng...

Tom Walker aka Jonathan Pie

01 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Pie is a fictional broadcast reporter created and performed by comedian Tom Walker who is this week’s guest. Walker brought Pie to life in ...

Mark Drakeford

24 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Full Disclosure, James speaks to Mark Drakeford. Born and brought up in West Wales he started off his career as probation officer a...

Curtis Stigers

17 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When he was forced to move 800 miles away from the outskirts of Hollywood to Idaho as a boy, Curtis Stigers was furious. After school he gravitated ba...

Caroline Criado Perez

10 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When she was a teenager, Caroline Criado Perez found feminism embarrassing. But then she read a book which changed her life. It documented how our lan...

John Simpson

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

He was nearly shot on one of his first jobs as a 25 year old, and throughout his illustrious career, John Simpson has continued to dice with death, re...

Keir Starmer

24 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer has had a meteoric rise from his humble beginnings in a small Surrey town. The Starmer household was a ...

Christiane Amanpour

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Known across the world for fearlessly holding dictators to account, Christiane Amanpour, as a young staffer at CNN found herself kicked off the networ...

Beverley Knight

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Born to Jamaican parents, Beverley Knight grew up in a dedicated Pentecostal household where church attendance and music performance were inextricably...

Adil Ray

03 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As the younger son, Adil Ray was given more freedom to pursue his creative instincts than his older, more academic sibling. Before moving into the mai...

Charlotte Church

27 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Charlotte Church was catapulted into the spotlight at the age of 11 after singing down the line on television show, This Morning. Within two years Chu...

Feargal Sharkey

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When ‘Teenage Kicks’ by The Undertones was released in 1978, legendary DJ John Peel took the unprecedented step of playing it back to back on Radi...

Stewart Lee

13 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Despite being named by The Times as the best current English-language comedian in the world, Stewart Lee insists that nobody really knows who he is. H...

Johnny Vaughan

16 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Realising there was nothing he could not do, Johnny Vaughan left school and did nothing. Before becoming the presenter of the Big Breakfast and the dr...

Sue Perkins

09 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Sue Perkins was asked by her manager to present a programme about competitive baking, she declined the offer on multiple occasions. After lots of...

Bill Bailey

02 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The comedian, actor and musician, Bill Bailey describes his upbringing in the town of Keynsham in Somerset as idyllic. He credits his strong work ethi...

Les Dennis

25 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Les Dennis has been a star in Britain's light entertainment scene for decades, but his career began off screen as a stand-up comedian in the working m...